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Android's sideloading limits are its most anti-consumer move

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395 points josephcsible | 3 comments | 13 Oct 25 15:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.626s | source
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HiPhish ◴[13 Oct 25 16:27 UTC] No.45570232[source]▶
We need to stop calling it "sideloading", we should call it freely installing software. The term "sideloading" makes it sound shady and hacky when in reality it is what we have been able to do on our computers since forever. These are not phones, they are computers shaped like phones, computer which we fully bought with our money, and I we shall install what we want on our own computers.
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1. alejoar ◴[13 Oct 25 16:41 UTC] No.45570432[source]▶
I wonder where the term started?

Android itself calls it "install" when you open an APK file, there's not mention of "sideload" in Android at all as far as I can tell.

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2. viernullvier ◴[13 Oct 25 16:48 UTC] No.45570527[source]▶
There is, actually, but in a different context. The `adb sideload` command allows you to boot a device from an image without flashing it.
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3. chasil ◴[13 Oct 25 17:19 UTC] No.45570914[source]▶
This command is also used to install 3rd-party ROMs.

There is an option in the TWRP recovery tool to sideload any capable .ZIP file.